Fletcher in the News

Payments Journal Features IGBC's Cost of Cash Study

Date: September 12, 2013

The Fletcher School at Tufts University has been studying cash use patterns and the cost of accessing cash worldwide and recently released its in-depth report for the United States market, The Cost of Cash in the United States.

The report authors examine how cash use affects consumers, businesses, and governments and attempts to debunk the myth that cash is somehow “free”. The authors argue there are costs associated with all forms of payments and notes financially underserved consumers usually burden more of the cost.

“The truth is every payment instrument adds a disproportionate cost onto the poor,” said Bhaskar Chakravorti, senior associate dean for international business and finance at Tufts’ Fletcher School and co-author of the study. “Yet cash we tend to think of as the poor man’s best friend. That is where we’re wrong.”